1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to telephone call on-hold information services and, in particular to techniques for enabling a caller to personalize a menu of information services that are made available when the caller is put on-hold in a telephone system.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the prior art to provide information to a caller who is placed on-hold in a telephone system. Typical call-on-hold systems provide music or other audio messages to the caller while he or she waits for the called party to answer the call. These types of systems are in widespread use in telephone call or contact centers. A xe2x80x9ccall centerxe2x80x9d is an organization of people, telecommunications equipment and management software that efficiently handles telephone-based customer contact. A representative call center on-hold information service is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,439 to Walker et al. This patent teaches a system for entertaining a caller placed in a queue of a call center that allows the caller to access a plurality of entertainment options while on-hold. The entertainment options permit the caller who is on-hold to place a call to a third party, or to access one or more premium entertainment services. In this system, a private branch exchange/automatic call distributor (PBX/ACD) receives the calls destined for the call center and queues the calls when an appropriate call handling agent is not available. An interactive voice response unit (IVR) prompts a caller for specific information and forwards the collected information to the PBX/ACD. The IVR provides the caller with a menu of available information options, which can be accessed by the caller. After a selection is made, the PBX/ACD establishes a connection between the caller and the selected entertainment service.
The prior art provides other examples of telephone on-hold information services outside of the call center environment. Representative patents includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,875,231 and 5,946,378 to Farfan et al. These patents describe an on-hold telephone service that allows a subscriber to place a call on-hold and to make one or more information services available to the on-hold party. The on-hold service can be implemented on a central office switch or on an enhanced services platform connected to the switch. The on-hold service is accessed by the subscriber to the service through a transfer function that causes the call to be maintained by the on-hold service. The party that is placed on-hold by the subscriber (i.e. the called party) can then interactively acquire the various types of information available from the service, e.g., news, weather, stock market information, and the like. The subscriber to the service can send a message to the on-hold party to cause the on-hold party to selectively reconnect to the subscriber upon receipt of the message or, later, when the on-hold party is ready to do so. Other xe2x80x9con-holdxe2x80x9d telephone systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,444,774 and 5,920,616.
While xe2x80x9con-holdxe2x80x9d systems such as described above are useful, the on-hold party has only limited control over the content he or she may select. That content is usually predetermined by the system provider. As a consequence, the on-hold party is often forced to listen to advertising or other informational messages that are likely to be of little interest to the user, who, in effect, is held hostage on the telephone line waiting for the called party. Systems like those disclosed in the ""439 patent to Walker et al. provide somewhat more flexibility in that they allow the on-hold party more choices, however, few callers will want to make a third party call or will want to pay for premium entertainment services as is contemplated thereby. The present invention addresses this deficiency in known on-hold information services.
A telephone user sets up a xe2x80x9cpersonalizedxe2x80x9d menu identifying a set of information options from which he or she desires to select when placed on-hold in a telephone system. The user""s personal preferences are then saved. When the user later makes a call to a telephone system or is called, then is placed on-hold, the user""s local telephone service provider or alternatively the user""s own telephone equipment detects that the user is on hold. The user""s local provider or equipment then suspends the call, accesses the user""s personalized menu and offers the one or more information options as defined in the menu. In an illustrative embodiment, the personalized menu options are voiced over the telephone line and the user then makes selections using keypad (i.e. DTMF signaling) or voice input. A response may be interrupted to make another menu selection, or to repeat the current response. When the other party returns, the user""s local provider or equipment detects that the returning party has returned, and resumes the call. If the response being played has not completed when the returning party returns, that response is suspended and may be completed when the user is placed back on-hold or the call is completed.
According to a further technical advantage of the invention, the particular options set forth in the user""s menu may be reordered or prioritized from time-to-time depending on selections made by the user during prior xe2x80x9con-holdxe2x80x9d sessions. This creates an xe2x80x9cactivexe2x80x9d menu that more accurately reflects the user""s preferences as the on-hold system is utilized. In a representative embodiment, more frequently selected items in the menu are played before less frequently selected items.
According to yet another technical advantage of the invention, the user is allowed to select his or her preferences, regardless of who (or what) the other party is.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects and features of the present invention. These objects and features should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner of modifying the invention as will be described. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment.